Latest news with #LastNightattheTelegraphClub
Yahoo
17-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Velshi Banned Book Club: ‘Last Night at the Telegraph Club' by Malinda Lo
Written in vivid detail with nuanced characters and artistic restraint characteristic of Lo, the hugely celebrated and widely acclaimed 'Last Night at the Telegraph Club' is a poignant story of self-discovery and first love. Under the heavy shroud of McCarthyism and persecution of LGBTQ+ Americans - known now as the Lavender Scare - Lily bears the weight of her family, her Chinese-American community, her friends, her first love, and her identity. Though the novel tells a very specific story,
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Why is sex so scary to book banners?
The State Board of Education has required public schools to pull 21 books from library shelves since a regulation on "sexual conduct" took effect last summer. () This week, the State Board of Education voted to ban 10 more books from all South Carolina public schools, including my National Book Award-winning young adult novel 'Last Night at the Telegraph Club.' That means South Carolina has now banned 21 books statewide, making it the national leader in state-sanctioned book bans, a dubious distinction. 'Last Night at the Telegraph Club' is a historical coming-of-age novel about a 17-year-old Chinese American girl discovering her identity as a lesbian in 1950s San Francisco. In addition to the National Book Award, it won the Stonewall Book Award, the Asian Pacific American Literature Award, a Printz Honor, a Walter Dean Myers Honor, and dozens more accolades. And yet South Carolina's Board of Education has reduced it to a few paragraphs about sex. This is a fundamental misreading of the novel and a gross misunderstanding of the purpose of fiction. In its decision to ban my novel, the board is following Regulation 43-170, which prohibits any books in schools that include 'descriptions or visual depictions of 'sexual conduct,'' as defined by the state criminal code. This regulation deliberately sidesteps literary merit and the work as a whole in favor of focusing only on 'sexual conduct.' So, let's talk about sex. Why is it so bad — so 'inappropriate,' in the words of the regulation — for a book to include descriptions of 'sexual conduct'? The main character in 'Telegraph Club' is a teen named Lily who is coming to understand her sexual identity during the 1950s, a time in which sexuality was highly repressed. The scenes in the novel that focus on sexuality are about Lily testing her own freedoms — both emotional and physical. They are about Lily claiming the freedom to be who she is. Sexuality is a natural part of being human. As a writer, writing about sex and sexuality enables me to engage with questions about what makes us the people we become. It is an essential tool in a writer's creative toolbox, and it's one of the best ways we can get up and close and personal with a character and their emotions, desires, and fears. Reading about sex and sexuality is just about the safest way possible for a young adult to gain insight into what sex means. It is such a complex and important part of life. We cannot become who we are without the freedom to explore our choices in the privacy of our own minds. That is what reading gives us: the freedom to imagine different possibilities. I believe it's that freedom to imagine that is so frightening to those who seek to ban books. Banning books that include descriptions of 'sexual conduct' is an attempt to curtail individual freedom in our own bodies and minds. The 21 books that have been banned in South Carolina all approach sexuality from different perspectives. Some of them explore sexual freedom and pleasure; others explore more difficult issues such as sexual assault and misogyny. Some, like 'Telegraph Club,' are about identity and its connection with sexuality. None of them are right for every reader, but that doesn't mean they should be banned from all schools, from kindergarten through high school. There are plenty of legal arguments for why this regulation is unconstitutional. There are plenty of reasons South Carolina parents should be angry that one parent has been behind most of these book bans. Why does that one parent get to speak for all of you? But I'm not a South Carolinian, and I'm not a lawyer. I'm a writer. I believe these book bans are wrong because they attempt to limit our freedom to imagine different possibilities. We can't be fully human without that freedom.
Yahoo
14-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
SC committee recommends 10 more books be removed from K-12 public schools
COLUMBIA, S.C. (WCBD) – A state committee has recommended that multiple books be removed from public school libraries and classrooms across South Carolina. The Instructional Review Materials Board voted Thursday to recommend that 10 books be pulled from K-12 shelves under a rule adopted last year that bars books containing descriptions or visual depictions of 'sexual conduct.' The regulation also established a system in which parents can challenge materials in their child's school that they believe fail to meet the 'age and developmentally appropriate' standard. Parents must make a 'good faith effort' to address their concerns at the district level first but can appeal local decisions to the State Board of Education. 11 books have been pulled from public schools by the board since the regulation went into effect. Trump wants to dismantle the Department of Education. What could that mean for South Carolina? Among the books under review Thursday was 'Last Night at the Telegraph Club' by Malinda Lo, which follows a young Chinese American girl as she explores her sexuality in 1950s San Francisco. In a March 11 letter, Lo told the committee the book is rooted in her own experience and urged them to 'trust the judgement' of local teachers and librarians. 'I'm a Chinese American lesbian myself, and when I was a teen growing up in the 1980s and 90s, I often felt alone and confused,' she wrote. 'I didn't have access to books like this that would have helped me better understand who I was. That's why I write books about LGBTQ+ and Asian American characters. I'm writing the books I needed as a teen.' 'While not every book is for every reader, every reader deserves the freedom to choose what they wish to read, not to have those rights taken away from them by the state,' the letter continued. Ultimately, committee members voted unanimously to recommend the following books for removal: Tricks by Ellen Hopkins Lucky by Alice Sebold Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo Kingdom of Ash by Sarah J. Maas Identical by Ellen Hopkins Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas Hopeless by Colleen Hoover Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimananda Ngozi Adichie Collateral by Ellen Hopkins The recommendations will come before the SC Board of Education for a final vote on April 1. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
13-03-2025
- Yahoo
10 more books recommended for removal in SC from K-12 libraries
Christian Hanley, chairman of the state Board of Education's Instructional Material Review Committee, and attorney John Tyler during a committee meeting Thursday, March 13, 2025. (Screenshot/Instructional Materials Review Committee livestream) COLUMBIA — Ten more books are slated for removal from South Carolina's K-12 public school libraries, despite protests from the books' authors and school librarians. Librarians have already been required to remove 11 books from shelves since a regulation went into effect last June barring students from accessing books containing 'sexual conduct' while at school. Another six books have been allowed to stay, one with the stipulation that parents must give approval before their child can check it out. The full State Board of Education will make the final decision on whether to keep or retain the books at its April 1 meeting. All are available in at least one high school in the state but not taught in classrooms. Books recommended for removal Thursday 'Collateral' by Ellen Hopkins 'Empire of Storms' by Sarah J. Maas 'Half of a Yellow Sun' by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 'Hopeless' by Colleen Hoover 'Identical' by Ellen Hopkins 'Kingdom of Ash' by Sarah J. Maas 'Last Night at the Telegraph Club' by Malinda Lo 'Living Dead Girl' by Elizabeth Scott 'Lucky' by Alice Sebold 'Tricks' by Ellen Hopkins Source: Instructional Materials Review Committee Many of the 10 books the five-member committee voted Thursday to recommend removing tell stories about abuse and persecution, speakers said in asking the committee to keep the books on shelves. At least three of the books — 'Collateral,' 'Identical' and 'Tricks' — were written to reflect true stories of rape and human trafficking in an effort to encourage teenagers experiencing similar abuse to get help and raise attention for people who know little about it, Ellen Hopkins, the author of those three, told the committee. 'Identical,' for example, reflected the experiences of four of Hopkins' friends who were molested by male relatives, she said. Readers, many of them teenagers, have written Hopkins letters thanking her for writing a book so similar to their own experiences, she said. 'Not every kid's life is ideal,' Hopkins said. 'Who will speak for them? Somebody has to speak for them, including in school libraries.' In November, the committee decided another book by Hopkins, 'Crank' — about a woman addicted to meth — can be checked out of school libraries only with parents' permission. Ivie Szalai, who brought the challenges to the state level, said she has read and enjoyed several of Hopkins' books. But she doesn't believe they belong in school libraries, she told board members in the virtual meeting. 'I stand by my stance that I don't feel that they are appropriate for minor children,' said the Beaufort County parent. Others, such as 'Half of a Yellow Sun' and 'Last Night at the Telegraph Club,' tell the stories of historical events. 'Half of a Yellow Sun,' by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, tells the story of three people during the civil war in Nigeria in the 1960s. 'Last Night at the Telegraph Club,' by Malinda Lo, follows a 17-year-old Chinese American girl as she discovers her sexuality in 1950s San Francisco. 'I am a Chinese American lesbian myself, and when I was a teen growing up in the 1980s and '90s, I often felt alone and confused,' Lo wrote in a letter to the committee. 'I didn't have access to books like this that would have helped me to better understand who I was. 'That's why I write books about LGBTQ+ and Asian American characters,' Lo's letter continued. 'I'm writing the books I needed as a teen.' Whether the books are important is not what the committee considers. Board members' decisions must be based solely on whether the books contain sexual content, said Robert Cathcart, attorney for the state Department of Education. And in the case of the 10 books committee members considered Thursday, they did, he said. 'While this material likely does contain many important themes and considerations, what this board and the committee is charged with considering is whether or not it's age and developmentally appropriate,' Cathcart said. Removing books from libraries takes away chances teenagers might have to find a book that interests them during a time when fewer children are reading for fun, two librarians and a teacher told the committee. Students who enjoy stories by Sarah J. Maas or Colleen Hoover, two popular authors whose books the committee voted Thursday to remove from shelves, might discover a lifelong love of reading that helps them in other parts of their lives, librarians said. 'I want books in my library that people want to read,' said Laura Haverkamp, a former high school librarian of 24 years in Columbia. Those students have plenty of other options, Szalai said. 'I hope that in the future that authors, if their target audience is children in high school, let's say 14 to 18, that they might consider removing that (sexual) material,' Szalai said. The books heard Thursday all came from Szalai, who said she has children attending Beaufort County public schools. Szalai was also responsible for four previous challenges, which she brought after her local school board decided the books could stay on high school shelves. Those decisions came before the regulation went into effect.
